All over the world, water utilities must to face daily multiple difficulties in order to ensure water supply and sewer service to the citizens. Most of these problems are essentially related with technic and technology. Others with processes, organizations and the rest of the Industry’s implied actors. Others with regulatory issues and the administrative tangled mess around water. And so on… we could follow identifying more factors that, in one way or another, can represent a problem during the critical water supply process

1. WATER INDUSTRY AND ITS FUTURE CHALLENGES
KEY PROBLEMS WE NEED TO SOLVE BEFORE FACING THEM
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2. 1 Service and operational KPIs are based on partial and
non reliable information
How can weimprove when there’s no awareness of weakness? That’s what happens in
mostWater Utilities. Everyone knows that there are things that do not workproperly ...
but nobody knows.On the one hand there’s no previous business processes analysis
that helps companies to design easy and simple pain points monitoring mechanisms.
Furthermore, the mobile or not IT systems that supposedly are the responsible foran
easy and fast data entry, have been designed to reduce bureaucratic workinstead of
create a consistent knowledge base to learn and take better decisions. The result is
dramatic. We’re generating non representative KPIs from invented data. We’re making
tricks playing to the solitaire.

3. 2 Companies know how isn’t yet gathered in any digital
format
Petabytes and Petabytes of data is being generated around the world every day.The
percentage of daily non registered data is infinitely superior. Same story in Water
Utilities. There are thousands and thousands of transactions, operations, emails,
conversations and other ways of valuable communication that is not collected or
registered properly. It has been happened for years which, in absence of historical
data, does not allow Water Utilities learn from experience. But perhaps most
egregious is that basic operational information about processes, systems or field
operations are still in people’s brains instead of digital data bases.The risk and costfor
companies is too high. What can not be shared easily, don’t exist…

4. 3 Key transformational decisions are based exclusivelyon
short term profitability parameters
We can know that something we’re doing is wrong. Wecan have a clear awareness of
it and sane intention to solveit. But when werealize that solution implies an
organizational change with a more or less significant impact on the budget or
business processes, thing changes. Justifying past decisions or investments causes
that solutions evaluation to big underlying problems were measured by tangible
profitability. Result,a lot of small actions with an evident impact on spending relegate
at the end of the list the real transformations. That is, it is preferred to treat the
symptoms instead of ending with the disease. Thus it is very difficult to solve Water
Utility real problems

5. 4 Cost resulting from the high duplication rate of activities,
projects, studies and tasks is really huge
The world is full of professionals with aclear desire for improvement. Unfortunately,
the factthat they do not have a single source of information easily accessible and
shared in their companies makes many of them work in parallel on the same
problems rather than sharing and collaboration. And it's not amatter of will. It is a
matter of coordination and put the right tools and organizational means to avoid
sterile disputes between departments and lots of hours spent meaningless. Perhaps
collaborating shortens the time needed between strategy and execution. Who
knows…

6. 5 Power without control is useless
Today there is not a single Utility in the world that is not thinking in predictive
maintenance application in their operations. How can anybody consider such athing
when mostof the thousands of blue collars who go out to perform asset maintenance
tasks goes to change or repair something that is broken or don’t function properly? It's
the “Run to failure” old strategy. If no data is extracting from the assets and our blue
collars spend avery few percentage of their time on preventive maintenance tasks,
how can Utilities think of learning about an assetdata that is not available? Is not it
logical to obtain such data before considering extract knowledge from them?

7. 6 High level of specificity in municipal legislation hampers
rapid adoption of technology
Today is the time of IT platforms. It’s IaaS,PaaS and SaaS time. The fast and easy setup
process have beaten the high customization projects we used to do in the past.
Natural software market trend has led a proliferation of tools that reduce dramatically
implementation and go to market times. These tools have promoted the
standardization of company’s business processes while they covered mostof the
needs. But the complexity of Water Utilities organizational needs is still focused on the
way each of them contract, bill and rate the water service. The reason in most of the
cases forthis mess is derived from the local government continuous changes. The
result, heterogeneity is high and the casuistry becomes alarming. While some
coordinated effortto minimize it is not addressed, the synergy in the sector to
leverage the use of technology will remain low

8. 7 Past legacy is a heavy slab for Water Utilities
Unchanged ways to operate applied for years.Spending and investment strategies
based on asset rehabilitation and renew. Full opacity in the way to operate, invest and
spend at the eyes of end customer. The water bill as the only communication channel.
Reputation often questioned. All these subjects might well deserve a posttheir selves.
The inertia of many years is hard to beat when Utilities have to face and deal with
dramatic changes that in many cases mean a substantial transformation of the way of
understanding the Water "business".

9. WHAT’S BEHIND?
LET ME PROVIDE SOME DETAIL AND DARE TO MAKE SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

10. Basedata togeneratetheasset inventorydon’t exist or areobsolete.
Then it’s necessarytogather newinformation or reviewtheexisting
onethrough field campaigns tryingtoavoid high expenses
Having availabledigitalized information tosimulate/operatethe
network as soon as possibleis veryimportant for Water Utilities.But
realitydemonstratetheyspend long timetodothat
Thequalitylevelof existing data is uncertain.In best cases,theyrealize
that thesedatais incomplete,incorrector inexact according the
operationalor business rules defined bytheUtility,when exist and are
clear enough…
Normally it’s very difficult toaccess asset inventorydata.IT systems
and organizations arenot orientedtosharethiscrucialinfo.Instead of
collaboration mechanisms wefind datasilos and duplicateddata
Nobodyknows therisk and impact relatedtotheassets.Their criticality
is calculated subjectivelyand onlysomeofthemaremonitorized to
obtain their performance.On top ofthat,this kind ofinfois not
collected systematically(field work) or automatically
Thefinallocalization of anyasset is not registered during the
installation process.Thatmakesimpossiblelatertraceabilityrelated
with model,brand or anyother asset specification
Related to
ASSET INVENTORY
HOW TO REACT…
• Automatizing the edition of inventory and networkelements according your
connectivity and business rules (laterals,connection services,manholes…)
• Creating aproper edition environment for operators (import from CAD,
workflows, edition from sketching…)
• Implementing Smart design and follow-up tools for inventory campaigns
• Smart segmentation/zoning
• Real vs Planned
• Progress control(per person,per contractor…)
• Analyzing dataquality
• Data completeness map
• Data validity map
• Data integrity map (Rules breakcontrol)
• Implementing easy mapping search and exploitation advanced toolfor Asset
Inventory
• Access to attached data(images,voice,video,specs docs…)
• Access to historian data(operations,maintenance tasks…)
• Access to RealTime data(controldata,performance…)
• Analyzing asset cadaster
• Condition map
• Usefullife map
• Matrix risk/impact map
• Monitoring associated asset riskand criticality
• Different risktypology
• Different failure mode typology
• Different consequence typology

11. Nowadays,95% ofasset maintenancefield works worldwidearebased
on a “Run tofailure”strategy.Wesend peopleoncetheassetis broken
and theserviceis affected
There’s a verylittlespacefor preventivemaintenancein a field worker’s
journey.Most of thetimeis driving and respondingtoendlessforms
Maintenancetasks areplannedbasedon intuition.Onlyin a small
percentageofthecases usefulliferelated parametersaretaken into
account in theprocess
Foreman’s experienceis thescienceused toplan maintenanceroutes.
NoVehicleRoutePlanning,Network analysis or other logistic are
normallyused
In such places wheredata is collected automatically,themain purpose
is remotecontrolusing SCADAtechnology. Data is not usedtomonitor
or analyzeasset condition or performance
Water utilities don’t knowsuch a basic assetinstalledparameters as
brand or model.So,theydon’t knowtherisk or break impact
associated.Even thecriticality.Obviously,theycan’tusethesedata to
createmaintenanceplans
Normally there’s nocultureofcost analysis regarding maintenance
costs.Lack ofinformation makes this impossible
Related to
ASSET MAINTENANCE
HOW TO REACT…
• Visualizing and analyzing maintenance planning
• Maintenance frequency (fix,threshold,average point…)
• Typology (Run to failure,preventive,predictive…)
• Implementing Smart asset search according specifications to easy create
maintenance plans
• Calculating risk
• Risk by asset map (mostly network)
• Risk by years map
• Calculating impact
• Different parameters (hydraulic,operational, commercial,
demographic…)
• Calculating criticality
• Matrix risk-impact map (Hot Spots/Criticalassets identification)
• Historical evolution visualization
• Monitoring Service levelof agreement compliance
• Response times and SLA map
• Analyzing maintenance cost versus asset performance
• Maintenance deviation map
• Prioritizing risk based inspections (RBI)
• Calculation based on fail probability and consequences
• Inspection proposalmap
• Visualizing fail tree associated to criticalassets
• Geoprocessing to simulate affected areas/assets in case offailure

12. TheROA(Return ofAssets) and optimumreplacementtimeoftheir
assets arecompletelyunknown in most oftheWater Utilities
Investment planning in replacementor rehabilitation projects is made
attending toa non “technical”parameters and,in bestcases,
prioritizing areas with major neighboringpressure
Subjectivityis toohigh in allthephases ofCapitalInvestment
Planning.Most ofthetimetheabsenceofa operationaland critical
network events databasewith whichperformthemandatory
geoprocessing and analysis leaves thesubjectiveoption as unique
Necessarydata calculation andprocessing toobtain theright
estimation in Capitalprojectsaremadewith a less levelofautomation.
This means long cooking times tointegrateinsidetheUtilitytaking
decision process
Related to
INVESTMENT
HOW TO REACT…
• Obtaining the ROA
• ROA map
• Thematic maps for asset rate
• Obtaining the optimum asset replacement time
• Time-Type of asset matrix thematic maps
• Replacement proposal(layer) by year
• Analyzing CAPEX & OPEX
• Based on average costs and year replacement rules
• Thematic maps by investment estimated costs by asset

13. Bluecollar mobility is thought byofficeworkers and for officeworkers.
People on field havetodealwith non easyand intuitiveapps
Thefield workforceis, mainly,“digitalilliterate”.Theageofour workers
is high and there’s a lowrotation ratein Water Utility.Wateris not too
sexy for young and digitalnativepeople
Automation of data collection,remoteor directlyon thefield,never
has been a priorityfor Water Utilities.Nowthat is something “cool”
theyneed totakeprofit oftheir past investmentsin technologyfor
field workforce(apps,devices…)
Theoperations knowledgeis stilla matterofpeople.Field workers and
operators retain thegood practices andmost effectiveprocesses.No
realtransferenceprocesstotheIT systems is takingplacenowadays,
principallybecausethesesystems arenot prepared toreceiveand
managesuch a “non structured”data
Bad user experiences in theappspromotes bad practiceson thefield.
So,thegathered information is inventedin a high percentageofthe
cases.Thegoal for thefield worker on a correctivetask is repairing.The
rest is secondary…
Paper is stilla reality.Thetimelapsebetween thedata collection in
field and his usagein officeis extremelyhigh.His usagefor a
operationaldecision is unlikely…
Related to
WORKSAND INTERVENTIONS
HOW TO REACT…
• Analyzing workand interventions cloud of points
• From different points of view,segmentation and categorization
• From a historical perspective
• Implementing smart Geo tools for sketching on the field
• Attached high resolution media
• Real time messaging and chatting
• Reengineering operation mobility to fit with blue collar real capabilities
• User Experience analysis to define new journeys
• Adjusting view levels and accuracy tools to crew responsibilities
• Inventory simplified view map
• Inventory detailed view (CAD) map in different and focused apps
• Optimizing maintenance routes calculation and assignment
• Different parameters beyond Geo (skills,availability…)
• Recommendations based on location, availability and others
• Automating workplanning
• Smart taskgrouping and assignment
• Implementing fully operational awareness tools based on areal
interoperability
• Including GPS tracking in operational awareness
• Field workers location
• Geofencing
• Routing historical analysis (machine learning)

14. Manualmeter reading is thewayWater Utilitiesareobtaining the
necessarydata for billing.AMR and Smart Meteringarestillresidualin
front of theamount ofmeter readers dailywalking byour streets
There’s a big spacefor error in manualtype.Maybeis faster and
cheaper than other types butthehigh volumeofinspections and
complaints derived fromthis process don’tbalanceout thepotential
benefits
Thehigh dependencebetween readingand billing process makes
entireprocess toorigid.Thetranslation torealityis a hugelack of
efficiency in themeter reading plan.Whilewater billing rates
structures wereorientedtosegmentand penalizelargeconsumers,
thebilling dates willcontinuebeing inflexible.
On top of that,manualreading is often subcontracted with the
purposeofdecreaseoperationalcosts.This means less controland
influenceon theprocess and technologysubcontractorsapplytothe
guaranteequalityand feasibility.In front ofthis scenario,using
geoprocessing toobtain meter reading routes is somethingunreal…
On theother side,Smart Metering is stillimmature.Water Utilities
don’t seethebenefits rather than obtain a datareadyfor billing.In
addition,oncetheystarttoinvest in thatdirection theinfrastructure
deployment is doing with theback facinggeotechnologyand
attending onlytopermission availability.Where’s theefficiency?
Related to
METERING
HOW TO REACT…
• Monitoring asset controldata
• Real Time map (integrated with SCADA)
• Implementing Smart design and follow-up tools for meter reading campaigns
• Smart segmentation/zoning
• Real vs Planned
• Progress control(per person,per contractor…)
• Applying Smart Geo for route calculation
• Automatic generation based on multiple parameters
• Automatic recalculation in case of incidences
• Learning from readers experience
• Big Data and Machine learning application
• Analyzing meter readers provider’s SLAs
• Best providers
• Change proposals based on compliance levels
• Preparing the Smart Metering implementation
• Antennas best location map (deployment proposal)
• Calculating tangible benefits of Smart Metering adoption
• Analyzing existing Smart Metering
• Antennacriticality map
• Redundancy levelof communication network
• Analyzing meter inventory analysis
• By age
• By dimension
• By consumer type

15. SCADAand hydraulic modelling is poorlyintegratedin theWater
UtilityIT ecosystem.In thesameway,few Water Utilities has got a real
integration betweenoperationalandcommercialsystems toassure
theresponsein front ofnetwork criticalevents
Operationalawarenessis a difficult job for Utilities.Onlythebig ones
haveinvested in RealTimeNetwork monitoring and eventdetection.
Therest haveserious difficulties toobtain an integrated vision trough
dashboarding
There’s nostandardprocedures tocollect,treat,storageand analyze
operationaldata.Under thesecircumstancesis difficult for Water
Utilities tofacechallenges likeleak detection,sectorization andother
techniques that makethempossibletooptimizeshortand long term
operation.
Related to
OPERATION
HOW TO REACT…
• Monitoring events on the networkto identify anomalies
• Real Time
• Historical perspective
• Calculating hydraulic balances
• DMA balances map
• Monitoring water quality
• Monitoring points map
• Access to analytics results (realtime and evolution)
• Integrating data in water supply modelling
• Water demand allocation
• Fire flows
• Water mix (sources mapping, homogeneous areas mapping…)
• Water persistence
• Integrating data in sewer and drainage modelling
• Simulating water networks
• Valve isolation trace
• Upstream-Downstream trace
• Flow accumulation

16. Water Utilities don’t havean uniquehistoricalvision toanalyzethe
asset and network evolution.Traditionallydifferent phases ofprojects
and interventions havebeen registered in multipleformats and digital
supports,makingalmost impossibletoquerythepast.
Project tracking is madeunder a budgetdeviation perspective.So,a
big percentageofthedata generatedduringa constructionis not
“necessary”toregister.It provokes that,whena deviation is detected,
is hard tofind thecauses
Therearedifferent systems involved in theproject management
process.FromCAD tobudgeting tools,most ofthemhavedifferent
responsibleor different formats.BIM(Building Information
Modelling) adoption is somethingstillon thehorizon…
Potentialsynergies derived fromtheresources location and
continuous displacements betweenconstructions in a organization
don’t beleveraged.European laws makethemcomplextodeployapps
based on GPS tracking for peopleor devices
Related to
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
HOW TO REACT…
• Deploying smart tools for project management editors and analysts
• Networkconnectivity analysis
• Operation simulation
• Building an historical project database
• Different networks evolution map
• Implementing smart budgeting tools
• Based on Geo tools
• Connected to legacy/finantial systems
• Connecting project geodatabase with Project Management tools
• Planning mode
• Tracking mode
• Budget deviation mode

17. Normally company’s customers arenot properlyrepresentedon a
map.Water Utilities,always influencedbytheir shorttermeconomic
return obsession,don’tsenseimmediatelya realbenefit in geocoding
Thebilling process in usuallycomplexand fullyof casuistic.In
addition,localgovernment influenceis highmakingalmost
impossibletoshareeasilysynergies,proceduresand tools between
companies without a good layer ofcustomization
Regarding today’s readingand billingmonthlyandbimonthly
frequencies ,theanalyticalchallengefor Water Utilities is huge.
Smart Metering is coming so,therealityis that consumption forecast
and billing period estimation arefar frombeing easytocalculate
today
Consumption analysis is stillan unresolved matter.Therepresentation,
qualityand quantityofcustomer’s data is not at thenecessarylevelto
takeright decisions.
Business Intelligenceareabsolutelyorientedtobilling consolidation
and report.Onlyfewof themgofurther trying tocover thedebt
analysis.There’s stilla long path alongthewaybeforethesesystems
start tobereallyvaluable…
Related to
BILLING
HOW TO REACT…
• Discovering our customers
• Thematic maps by age, connection type,consumption type,large
consumers,criticality…
• Mapping our customer’s behavior
• Consumption evolution
• By segmentation (domestic,commercial…)
• Implementing Smart design and follow-up tools for customer cadaster
reviewing
• Smart segmentation/zoning
• Real vs Planned
• Discovering how debt evolves
• Debt map
• Cross analysis with customer dataand demographics
• Cross analysis with offices location
• Cross analysis with digital channels
• Analyzing the anomalous consumption
• Fraud identification map
• Meter abnormalfunction identification

18. TraditionalCustomer Carestrategies andIT systems usedfor years in
Water Industryarenot fullyoriented toguaranteecustomer
satisfaction.Achangein Water Utilities sensibilitytowards end
customers has took placein recent years.But there’s a lot ofwork todo
prior tochangecustomer’s poor imageofwater companies
Water Utilities don’t knowwhois their customer.Thedifficultyto
obtain information fromthembeyond thestrictlynecessarytocontract
theserviceprovokes a hugelack ofunderstandingaboutend
customer’s interests,behavior or needs
Thepaper water billis mainlythecommunication channelwith
customer.Technologyadvances arefocusedon onlineoffices and
better IT systems for physicaloffices
Callcenter don’t havea 360ºcustomer vision becausethechasm
between operationalandcustomercaredepartments.In addition,
level of digitaltransparencywith customers is stillverylow.The
customer interaction consuming or giving information through digital
channels is something towok hard
Water Utilities wants toshareproactiverecommendations,smart
advises and good consuming practices with their customers.
Unfortunately,processes anddata arenot readyfor it.Analytics applied
toCustomer Careis nowadays just a desire…
Related to
CUSTOMER CARE
HOW TO REACT…
• Understanding how our customer feeland trying to find disappointment
sources
• Customer satisfaction map
• Cross analysis between incidents and customer satisfaction
• Improving Call Center tools
• Customer 360º vision
• CRM integration
• Publishing information to the customer
• Programed service shutoff
• Networkincidence map in real time

19. Usually,thepower of consumption analysis,customer behavior,
operationaland maintenancetasks andother relevantinfofor Water
Utilities is not convenientlyleveraged in Smart Cityinitiatives.The
stateand feasibilityofdata generatea hugevolumeofextra work
beforetheycan beshared with others atthesamequalitylevel
Thereareunexplored fields ofanalysis regarding consumption that
could behighlyvaluablefor theSmart City.Acitybehavior
radiographycan beeasilydoneat differentlevels ofaggregation
hourly,dailyor monthly.In few cases localcensus and demographic
data arelinked with data coming fromUtility
Therearea lot of opportunities totakeadvantageofWater Utility
assets and field work forcefar from thecurrent usage.In the
innovation era this is a need…
Related to
THE SMART CITY
HOW TO REACT…
• Exploring new possibilities for Water Utility assets
• Design thinking process
• Empowering current IT systems interoperability
• Design of apowerfulAPI strategy
• Software platform adoption instead of custom developments
• Opening the doors to our City neighbors
• Multiutility vision vs narrowed minds

20. Necessarydata togenerateEmergencyPlans arepoorlyupdated.This
process is mostlyexecuted manuallywithout a proper adoption ofnew
technologyoffering
Emergencyis thenaturalfield toGIStechnology.Water Utilities are
not using properlythepowerfulofthis technologytoprepare,predict,
manageand evaluatetheimpactofnaturaldisasters
Beyond largecompanies thathaveconsistent strategies,Automatic
EmergencySystems for severerain events or flooding arenot enough
implemented on theterritory.In addition,thehighcost of
maintenanceand “non official”status makethemsovulnerableto
economic crisis
Emergencyawareness or Decision SupportSystems arenot a priority
for Water Utilities.Even necessaryinteroperabilitywith other
administrations areoften not guaranteed in caseofemergency
There’s noa well definebroadcasting strategytowardscitizen in case
of emergency
Related to
EMERGENCIES
Every daya hugeamount ofWater Utilityfield workers aremanaging
riskytasks completelyalone.Thestateoftheart ofthetechnology
applied toHSE is growing rapidlybut theadoption in thecompanies is
stillvery low
There’s a realregulatorypressurethat implies a lot ofcustomization by
state,region or municipality.Standardization is stilltocome…
Thejob of theHSE departmentsis titanic.Theyhavetoconvincedthe
rest of theorganization (mostlyOperations) about thebenefits oftheir
job,saving life.But thetransposition ofthis laudabledesiretoreality
using technologyis seen normallyas an cost overrun
Risk and HSE information arenot considered initiallyfor Water
Utilities as priorityin themobilitystrategy.Theinstantaccesstothis
crucialinfoat anytimeon thefield seems tobean extra in front of
operationaldata collection.
In thesamedirection,vitalsignsmonitoring or emergencycalling
apps arenot convenientlyrepresentedin thefield workers mobility
Related to
HEALTH & SAFETY

21. thanks for your attention

22. Almost 20 years in
InformationTechnology and
softwareprofession
Many ofthem dedicated to
Water Industry with different
hats
Passionate about Software,
Business Analytics, Marketing
and Business Development
Runner, reader and sporadic
blogger
Dani Cardelús
danicardelus@gmail.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR